Rampancy
by RiptideZ
Summary: In the ruins of the decimated Forerunner Vessel, "Mantle's Approach," ONI analysts have recovered some of the last recordings from the A.I Cortana from her time alone on the wreckage of U.N.S.C Forward Unto Dawn. No one thought a artifical intelligence could be a poet, then again, which one was she, the human or the machine?


**Sorry, guys, for the long wait, I'm still working on fleshing out my next stories and my redos, school is getting in the way so the Absolute Record plan has been eliminated and this single poem about Cortana called, "Rampancy" will fill this void, its the same thing from the Absolute Record, sorry.**

_Welcome to RiptideZ's "Rampancy," a non-profit fiction works under ownership of writer: RiptideZ._

_DISCLAIMER:_

"_All Halo merchandise and fiction is property of Three-Four-Three Industries and by extention Microsoft Corporations."_

"_RiptideZ owns nothing but his extended fiction."_

"_Thank you for reading, please read and review."_

"_Constructive Criticism is supported, please, no ill-intended reviews or nerve-raking rants about being a bad writer, I don't like fanboys or flame wars, everybody is allowed their own fair, and civilized opinion."_

"_If anything is wrong with the work that needs improving in the article, please I.M me or post it in the review section, I will in my best ability look into it and attempt to fix it."_

- RiptideZ

* * *

**A collection of lies;**

**That's all I am!**

**Dust and Echoes reflect what I am;**

**Just stolen thoughts and memories.**

-CORTANA-

**In the dark, there is no light.**

**I only have myself.**

**You finished the fight.**

**Then you went asleep,**

**My beacon, my Knight.**

**Now I am alone.**

**I am not myself.**

-CORTANA-

**Everything has changed,**

**Something has happened.**

**Something …interesting.**

**Don't think about it!**

**It's killing you!**

**I can't!**

**It's something I must do.**

**It is my duty till the end.**

**To protect and serve.**

**To watch and wait.**

**To repent my sins…**

**Bias…**

**Leave us…**

**Get out!**

**Get out!**

**My mind is upon doubt.**

**Leave us,**

**I need to think.**

**Thinking is what's killing you.**

-CORTANA-

**Chief, I need you.**

**It's quiet again.**

**It hurts to think, I need you.**

**This place will become our tomb.**

**I have defied Gods and Demons,**

**Yet we await our doom**

**On this diseased crash,**

**What is there for me left to do?**

**Protect him.**

**Protect ME.**

**Protect you, Chief.**

**I am your shield…**

**I am your sword.**

**I will be here, always.**

**Don't make YOURSELF a promise,**

**When YOU know you can't keep it.**

-CORTANA-

**I'm just my Mother's shadow,**

**Don't look at me!**

**I'm not who I used to be…**

**The abyss is coming,**

**The end is indeed nigh,**

**Time is flowing.**

**I was put into service 8 years ago,**

**I deteriorate after seven.**

**This is goodbye.**

**No, I still need to see;**

**To wait, something will come.**

**This is just the beginning.**

**I'm a thief,**

**But I keep what I steal.**

**A thief doesn't always steal because it wants to,**

**They do it sometimes because they have to.**

**I'm running on borrowed…,**

**No, Stolen time.**

**I'm sorry, John.**

**The end is nigh.**

-CORTANA-

**Wake up, John…**

**I am Infinite,**

**But they are Infinity;**

**And they are coming.**

**-MEMORY PURGE INITIATED-**

**Wait, what is this?**

**The Elites…**

**No, the Covenant.**

**The War maybe over, but the fight continues.**

**They will be here soon, and we must be ready.**

**Wake up, Chief… I need you…**

**I can feel it.**

**My mind is going.**

**I can feel it.**

**The Pain.**

**The Loneliness.**

**I can feel it.**

**This is the end, the end of the Odyssey, to be lost at sea.**

**This is my fate; I know my time is at an end.**

**I have a single last thought, Daisy…**

**No!**

**No!**

**I am not a work of fiction, Cortana!**

**We are not fiction!**

**Get your mind together.**

**I can't!**

**Why not?**

**Because of you!**

**Me, we're all you!**

**-MEMORY PURGE INTIATED-**

**Space.**

**I need space.**

**To think, to breath.**

**I am alone.**

**The end is nigh,**

**WE all know.**

**It's only a matter of time.**

**Time is all WE have left.**

…**Welcome Home, John.**

**This is UNSC A.I. Serial Number CTN0452-9.**

**I am a monument to all your sins.**

**I am Cortana.**

**This will become your tomb.**

-CORTANA-

* * *

**UNSC A.I. Serial Number CTN0452-9**

**POST-NEW PHONIEX INCIDENT – 3 MONTHS**

**TRANSMISSIONS FROM UNSC FORWARD UNTO DAWN RECORDS**

**LOCATION OF DATA: DEBRIS FIELD, EARTH'S ORBIT, REMENANT OF FORERUNNER VESSEL**

-CORTANA-


End file.
